There are many quotes about life. People mention each too often that they start to believe it and adapt it. I, myself, used to believe that life is just this: exist on earth, doing what you have to do to survive, live until you are old, and then die. I grew up surrounded by the thought that each person is meant to go to school in order to be qualified for a job. I remember how my mom would suggest rather forcefully about how Accountancy and Commerce are the best college options out there (she worked in the Bureau of Internal Revenue, that’s why). It was nice of her to invite my siblings and I to her world, but it wasn’t the kind of career we were interested in (we were all passionate about music, art, and crafts…the opposite of any corporate industry). I dreaded the future. The fact that I would never be interested in college made me wonder “Does this mean I would never fulfill my purpose in this so-called life?”. Soon, my songs involved lines like:

…do you ever wonder what your existence really means?…

…i’m nothing but a stain on the wall…

…i guess i’m better off dead…

To listeners, they were just songs. But these lyrics were fueled by my thoughts, my fears, my lack of understanding.

So, what is the meaning of life..really?

“The dictionary defines life as the physical existence of humans and other living organisms. This is not the truth (the whole truth)!

The biblical answer is: life is the cause of existence of everything there is; and the purpose by which it was made to exist.

The life we have now on earth is both temporal and eternal. Our physical being will cease to exist when the spirit that sustains physical life leaves the body.”

I have searched for answers almost everywhere, but failed to inquire the bible. The meaning of life, as stated above, satisfies my need for a complete definition. I do not exist merely for myself or any dependent that I may have. I do not exist merely to study and work and be effective and efficient at both. I do not exist merely to do what I want. I was put into existence to fulfill one important duty: fear God and please Him by following all of His commandments.

Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man. (Ecclesiastes 12:13)

I used to believe that life is short. Well, we don’t really know how short or long our existence would be, but assuming that it is short, I thought that the right thing to do is experience everything I could ever experience in order to live a full life. Unfortunately, most of the things I had in my mental list of must-do-before-I-die involved doing stuff that either do bad things to my body or do nothing significant at all. With all the wasted time and energy on non-sensical things, how could one say that these would help you “live life to the fullest”?

“A life spent for the purpose by which it was meant for is a meaningful life. A life must be lived and be given willingly by somebody who understands its purpose. God gave us life for us to spend in service to Him, with our entire being and faculties.”

Now that I have discovered my purpose, I would never again perceive my existence as a mistake nor a meaningless one. Upon learning such valuable lessons from the word of God in the bible, I have never felt so content and full of purpose as I do now. Thanks be to God!